smith



(No Model.)

D. L. SMITH.

I BUCKLE. No. 378,732. Patented Feb. 28,1888.

UNlThU dramas 'rrrisn'r Caries.

DWVIGHT L. SMITH, OF \VATEEBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-IIALF TO EARL A. SMITH, OF SAME PLACE.

BUCKLE.

:SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,732, dated February 28, 1888.

Application filed January 9, 1888. Serial No. 260,206.

To (all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DWIGHT L. SMITH, of Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and Stateof Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Buckles; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in--- Figure 1, a front View of the buckle complete; 'Fig. 2, a rear view of the same; Fig. 3, an end view of the same; Fig. 4, a vertical cen- I5 tral section; Fig. 5, an inside view of the lever detached; Fig. 6, a horizontal section above the bearingplate, Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, modifications.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of buckles for garments designed with special reference to suspenders, and particularly to that class in which the frame of the buckle is made from wire, provided with a bearing-plate, combined with a swinging lever, the jaw edge of which is adapted to impinge upon the bearing-plate, so as to grasp the strap between the jaw and plate; and the invention consists in the construction of the buckle, as hereinafter described, and more par ticularly recited in the claims.

A. represents the upper side or bar of the buckle; B, the lower bar or side, and C D the two ends, made from a single piece of wire bent into the required shape, the ends of the wire joined by any of the usual means employed for this purpose, here represented as the ends meeting in the lower bar, and surrounded by a tubular sleeve, E.

The lever is made from wire, and here represented as also forming a hook, F, by which the suspendcrends are attached. The wire to form the lever is bent at the center, to form the tip of the hook, in the usual manner. The two branches G H extend upward, and at their a 5 upper ends are turned into horizontal line with each other to form pivots a Z. In each end of the frame and at corresponding points a bend is made at right angles to the plane of the frame. (See Figs. 3 and 4.) This bend is of U shape, and the interior of the bend corre- (No model.)

sponds to the pivots a of the lever, the said bends forming bearings d for said pivots.

I represents the bearing-plate, which is made from sheet metal, its two ends turned toward the frame, and constructed with ears 6, which 5 5 are closed around the ends C D of the frame, one of the cars being above and the other below the bend of the bearings d, as represented in Figs. 1. and 3. The bent ends of the bearingplate throw it out ofthe plane of the frame, but parallel therewith, and the bonds at each end of the plate are made so that a portion of the plate lies close upon the end of the frame and so as to cover that side of the recess formed for the pivot-bearings d, as seen in Fig. 6.

Onto the wire lever the jaw fis secured. This jaw is made from a plate, g, .of sheet metal, cut to the required shape, and closed around the two branches G H of the lever,the upper edge of the plate being turned at substantially right angles to form thejawf, the edge of which may be serrated, as represented in Fig. 6, if desirable, but so as to impinge sub stantially upon the beariugplate I, as seen in Fig. 4, and so that the lever may be turned, as represented in broken lines, Fig. 4, to take the bearing-edge of the jaw away from the plate to permit the insertion of the strap, and then returned, as represented in Fig. i. The strap will be grasped between the jaw and the bearing-plate in the usual manner for this class of buckles.

The jaw-plate g is constructed with an extension to form a spring-tongue, h, to close the hook, as represented.

I have represented the bends made for the bearings d for the pivot as in line with the respective ends and the pivots introduced from inside outward; but the bends d may be thrown inward from the line of the ends of the frame, as representedin Fig. 7. Inthat case the pivot ends a of the lever may be turned inward, so as to enter the pivot-bearings from the outside, as elearly seen in Fig. 7. In both representations the recess formed by the bend is upon the bearing-plate side. The recess may, however, be made upon the reverse side, as seen in Fig. 8, and the end of the bearingplate closed over the ends of the pivot a, as seen in Figs. 9 and 10, so as to secure the pivot in the bearing. I, however, prefer the first illustrated method of forming the recesses in the frame for the bearing-pivots.

As represented, the bearing-plate is upon the rear side of the frame; but this may be re versed by simply turning the hook in the opposite direction, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 4,.

I have represented the recess for the pivotbearings, as made in the frame, the bearingplate serving to close the open side of the recess, so as to retain the pivots in their bearings, and this construction I prefer; but the recess may be formed by making depressions in that portion of the bearing-plate which is closed around the ends of the frame, as seen in Figs. 11 and 12, it only being essential to the invention that there shall be a recess formed in the frame or bearingplate for the pivot-bearings, which recess in the one shall be covered by the adjacent portion of the other.

I claim 1. The combination, in a buckle, of a frame made from wire, consisting of the two sides A B and two ends, 0 D, a sheet-metal bearingplate, I, in a plane parallel with but distant from the plane of the frame, the ends of I the frame, and the corresponding portions of the plate which are closed around the said ends of the frame, the one constructed with recesses to form pivot-bearings d and the other serving to cover said recesses, a lever made from wire, its two branches G H turned, respectively, to the right and left to form pivots a I), the said pivots resting in the said pivotbearings d, and a jaw-plate, closed upon said branches G H of the lever, the upper edge of the said jawplate turned toward the bearing-plate to form the jaw F, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a buckle, of a frame made from wire, consisting of two sides, A B, and two ends, 0 D, the said two ends at corresponding points bent out of the plane of the frame to form pivot-bearings d, a bearingplate, I, in a plane parallel with but distant from the plane of the frame, the two ends of the said plate closed around the respective ends of the frame, a lever made from wire, its two branches G H turned, respectively, to the right and left to form pivots a b, the said pivots resting in said pivot-bearings d, and ajawplate, closed upon said branches G H of the lever, the upper edge of the said jaw-plate turned toward the bearing-plate to form the jaw f, substantially as described.

3. The combination, in a buckle, of a frame made from a single piece of wire forming the two sides A B and two ends, 0 D, the said ends constructed with a U shaped bend at corresponding points and in planes at right angles to the plane of the frame, a bearing-plate, I, made from sheet metal, secured to the respective ends of the frame and upon that side upon which the pivot-bearings open, the said bearing-plate being in a plane parallel with the plane of the frame, but distant therefrom, a lever made from a single piece of wire bent to form the hook F, the two branches G H of which turn to the right and left and terminate in horizontal pivots a b, resting in said pivotbearings d, a jaw-plate, g, secured to said lever, its upper edge turned toward the bearingplate to form the jaw f, and the said plate 9 extended to form the spring-tongue h, substantially as described.

DWIGHT L. SMITH.

\Vitnesses:

H. L. SLAUSON, JAMES S'rovELL. 

